Alicia made a mental note never to try driving to a baseball stadium thirty minutes before the start of a game ever again. It was like every car in the city was trying to get to the Cougars stadium tonight. She could see the brightly lit stadium ahead of her, but there were still like one million cars separating her from it. Pedestrians dressed in Cougars jerseys and hoodies crowded the sidewalks. Didn't all those people have more useful things to do on their night off? She hit the brakes when the traffic light she'd been crawling towards turned red and checked her rearview mirror to see if her new escort was still with her. He was, of course. Where would he have gone?
As soon as the light turned green, Alicia pulled up onto the now empty intersection. At least the traffic ahead seemed to be dispersing, dividing into three smaller streams of cars heading for the three main parking lots and several smaller ones around the stadium. Maybe she would even get there before the game started...
The sound of an accelerating car rudely intruded her line of thought and she turned her head to the left, where the sound was coming from. Instead of a car trying to overtake her from behind, as she had expected, she saw a black pick-up truck coming straight at her. She even had time to catch a glimpse of the man driving it – brown hair, glasses – before her instincts took over and she rammed her foot down on the accelerator to get out of the way of the vehicle. Her car jumped forward as she clenched her eyes shut and braced for impact, because her mind was screaming at her that no way had she been fast enough...
There was a jolt as the pick-up truck brushed her rear bumper, and that was it. The pick-up never slowed down, but vanished into the side street opposite the one it had come from.
But Alicia didn't have time to feel relieved, as she was busy preventing a collision with the cars ahead of her. She hit the brakes and threw the steering wheel to the right, coming to a stop on the median while cars rushed by on either side. Then she lowered her head between her hands still clutching the steering wheel in a death grip and closed her eyes, her mind still flooding with images of what could have happened as her heart seemingly tried to pound its way out of her chest.
She didn't get much time to recover though, as the door on her side was yanked open and Jason Garrity, her bulky new bodyguard, stuck his head inside. "You alright, Miss Florrick?"
Alicia raised her head and tried to smile, but the result felt shaky at best. "I'm fine. Thanks." She peeled her hands away from the wheel and dragged her sweaty palms over her skirt.
Jason took off his dark sunglasses and gave her a long, examining look, then nodded and raked a hand over his military style short blonde haircut, some of the tension draining from his broad shoulders as he expelled a breath. "That was some driving you did there. Most people would have hit the brake instead of the gas."
Her smile felt more stable now, but the admiration in his voice made her face grow warm. She shrugged. "Well, I wasn't really thinking about it or anything, so..."
He nodded again. "You've got good instincts then." He took out his phone. "So, did you get a look at the driver, or the license plates?"
"Not the plates, but I did see the driver." She described what little she'd seen of the man, and Jason dialed a number and raised the phone to his ear. "But I really don't think the police will be able to..." she continued, but he wasn't listening – and apparently he wasn't even calling the police. Alicia felt goosebumps break out on her arms as she listened to his end of the conversation.
"Yeah, Garrity here. We had a situation on the way to the stadium... No, she's fine... Black pick-up trying to crash her, but she got out of the way. Illinois plates. First three digits are Kilo-five-four, but that's all I got. Male driver, brown hair and glasses... I know. He's gone now, but I'll keep a lookout, see if he shows up at the stadium... Nah, you stay with your lady, I've got this covered... Will do." Jason ended the call and put the phone away. Then he looked at Alicia. "You good to go?" he asked.
"I guess, but do you..." she rubbed her arms through the fabric of her navy jacket, trying to get rid of the goosebumps. "Do you really think he was trying to crash me? On purpose?"
"He didn't touch his brakes, never slowed down. Not even a little bit. Unless he was drunk or having a heart attack or something, that was not an accident." The tone of his voice made it clear that he didn't believe for a minute that the driver had been drunk or somehow unwell.
The goosebumps wouldn't go away, so Alicia stopped trying to make them. Instead, she brought her hands up to massage her temples as she tried to come to grips with the idea of someone deliberately trying to hurt her. Until now, she hadn't really believed there was any danger. Nico had assured her the bodyguard was just a precaution.
"You sure you're okay?" Jason asked.
Alicia took a deep breath and released it in a trembling sigh. Then she gave him a definitive nod. "Let's go," she said.
He didn't seem convinced. "Maybe it's best if you just go home..."
"No. I need to go to the stadium tonight." If she didn't talk to John tonight, she would have to wait until the weekend because they were both so busy the rest of the week. She would lose a lot of sleep worrying and wondering if he was interested in her or if he was merely sleeping with her to get information.
"Okay. Just let me know if you change your mind. And stay alert." Jason squeezed her shoulder, then closed the door and walked back to his own car. They pulled back into traffic, which was now considerably easier because most other cars had reached the parking lots by now.
Fifteen minutes later, Alicia felt her heart skip a beat when she caught sight of John waiting for her near the VIP entrance of the stadium. He looked good enough to eat, in his light gray suit and white button down shirt. But she quelled the urge to just walk into his arms and forget about the serious talk they were supposed to have.
"Hey," he said, when she reached him. He looked briefly at Jason, standing beside her, and frowned. Then his eyes sharpened as they searched her face. "Alicia? Are you alright? You look pale."
"I'm fine." She gestured at Jason. "This is Jason Garrity. He's my, uh..."
"Security assistant," Jason filled in, reaching out his hand.
"John. Elfman." John shook Jason's hand, but his eyes never left Alicia's face. She could see the questions there, but he didn't ask them. "Let's go inside," he said instead.
They followed him past stadium security and through the corridors of the staff area until he opened the door to what appeared to be a meeting room. He gestured for them to go inside, but Jason shook his head.
"I'll wait here," he said.
Alicia stepped into the meeting room, straightened her shoulders and waited for John to close the door. She opened her mouth to start talking, but didn't get the chance.
"So what's with the bodyguard? You running for office again?" He was trying to make light of it, but his eyes were worried.
"Just a precaution. Don't worry, everything's fine. Listen, John, about..."
"Alicia, come on. Tell me what's going on. Please. Is it the Farris case?"
She searched his face. His worry appeared genuine, but how could she know for sure? She just couldn't risk it. "I... I can't tell you, John. Sorry."
"You don't trust me." John looked down as he said it.
"I..."
"It's okay, Alicia, I understand. The thing with Peretti." He looked up again, his jaw clenching briefly before he continued, "He asked me to keep up with the case a couple of days ago. I was already doing that..." he held up his hand to stop her from talking at this point. "I mean I was following the news and blogs about it. I have never told him anything you told me, I promise. He didn't even show any particular interest in it, until that day when he asked me to check with you how Ryan was doing. I didn't know why he was suddenly so interested until today. Turns out Farris' uncle is an old friend of his, who's worried about his nephew. That's all there is to it."
Could that really be all? Alicia found herself wanting to believe him, badly. But she was a lawyer, so she had to ask the hard questions. Wasn't it just a little too much of a coincidence that he'd only found out the reason for Peretti's interest today? And wasn't the explanation just a little too convenient?
On the other hand, this was John. Her... friend. With benefits. Let's not forget about those. So shouldn't she at least give him the benefit of the doubt? She nodded slowly. "Okay. But, John... I think it may be best if we establish some... ground rules if we want to continue our rela—our thing."
She watched relief cross his features as he nodded. "Okay," he said. Then he looked at her expectantly.
"We won't discuss the Farris case. Or anything to do with Peter's campaign. And if Peretti asks you to find out anything about either of those topics, you tell me right away." Alicia watched him closely as he thought about that for a moment, looking for any sign of reluctance on his part.
John smiled. "Okay. I can live with that." He stepped closer, and her heart rate picked up when she felt his arms come around her waist. He leaned in until she could feel his breath on her lips, and she felt her own breathing grow faster. "But I want something in return," he whispered.
She had to swallow before she could get words out of her constricted throat. They came out a whisper. "And what is that?"
His lips brushed over hers, making her want more, but he drew back slightly. "A date. A real one, not just drinks and sex. Dinner, a movie, whatever." His mouth came down on hers again before she had a chance to react. And this time, it was a real kiss. His tongue touched her lips and she opened her mouth, all her thoughts, her initial objections to going on a date with him, melting away as she surrendered to the kiss, that was over much too soon.
"So, what do you say?" John murmured, his hands around her face so she couldn't look away.
"Okay," she breathed. "One date." And one date only, she silently promised herself. She still didn't want – couldn't risk – things between them becoming more than a simple, no strings attached fling. But one date wouldn't hurt, right?
Especially since it was more of a trade-off than a real date anyway.
§§§
John watched Alicia and her bodyguard exit the stadium, his gaze following her until she was out of sight. His heart felt lighter than it had in days. Sure, she had only agreed to one date, but even that beat the hell out of settling for just sex until she understood the difference between sex and lovemaking...
Underneath his relief, however, was the worry that made his stomach feel heavy. Not just about Alicia and how pale and shaken she'd looked when she'd first arrived here, but also about Peretti and his connection to Farris. He had told Alicia the truth about what Peretti had said. But he had left out the weird feeling of doubt that had crept up on him as he listened to the candidate's explanation earlier. He couldn't tell her about that, not before he knew for sure if there was a valid reason for his doubt.
As he walked back up the stairs to Peretti's skybox, he thought about calling that reporter, Sylvia Moore. She was part of the reason for his doubt of Peretti's story. He'd googled her name while waiting for Alicia, and found out that she wrote about crime, not about politics or sports like most of the reporters who'd been here tonight did. And she was a serious reporter, not one of those vultures out looking for the next scandal. She'd been nominated for a Pulitzer two years ago, for a brilliant piece she'd written about one of Chicago's oldest Mafia families. John even remembered reading the article back then – and being very impressed with it.
A journalist like her wouldn't get out of bed to expose a politician just for being friends with the uncle of a murder suspect, would she? Unless she had proof there was more to the connection than just that.
But what more could there be? John and his team had done their research into their candidate's past very thoroughly, and nothing weird had come up. There were no illegitimate children, no hidden affairs, no ties to shady people or companies, no past convictions, nothing. Peretti was clean as a whistle, unlike his opponent. Right up til now, Peretti had seemed like the better candidate to his campaign manager, even though he appeared as slick and phony as a gameshow host.
As he entered the door to the skybox, John heard Peretti's voice coming towards him from around the corner.
"...trying to win an election, god damn it! I can't be involved in this shit any longer..."
John looked around, but no one was paying attention to him. So he leaned against the wall of the skybox entrance area and tried to look casual as he took out his phone and pretended to type a text as he listened in on his candidate making what was no doubt just another business phone call.
"I don't give a shit! I want the whole project shut down immediately. Whatever it takes, just do it. And for God's sake, get rid of that damn shrink before..."
Peretti's voice moved away then, and John could no longer make out his words over the buzz of conversations between the other people in the room. He tucked his phone away but couldn't make himself enter the room just yet, so he stood there for a couple of minutes, thinking about what he'd just overheard. Telling himself not to get carried away by his own paranoia. It didn't have to mean anything. Peretti was a businessman. They talked about shutting down projects all the time. And as for getting rid of people... Well, they could just mean fire whoever they were talking about, right?
Yeah. It could all be explained away, just like the connection between a wealthy business man and a murder suspect. But John decided to keep his eyes and ears open anyway. Just in case.
Right now, however, he was going to call Sylvia Moore. Because whatever was going on, as Peretti's campaign manager he needed to get ahead of whatever story was being told about his candidate in order to spin it. That was his job, no matter how you looked at it. And even if the phonecall had been about something other than just business as usual, that didn't mean it had anything to do with the Farris case. The story that Moore was about to print, did.
He sighed as he took out his phone again and looked up the number for the Chicago Tribune.
§§§
The flickering of the muted television was the only light in the room. He would have gone to the stadium to watch the game, like he and Amy used to do, but he couldn't risk being seen in any location even remotely related to the Farris case right now. Especially when Peretti was also there. A humorless grin crossed his lips as he remembered his surprise at the gubernatorial candidate being at the courthouse yesterday. He should have realized immediately that the guy wasn't just a politician. It only made sense that the team owner would be involved in the old man's business, right?
The smile faded as he thought about what this meant. Reaching for the half empty beer bottle on the coffee table, he added Peretti's name to the list of people in his head. Ryan Farris had the top position on that list, because he was directly responsible for Amy's death, no matter what the old man said. But there were others involved too, and Peretti was one of them.
As was his father. He'd warned the old man and some of the others ages ago that, knowing Ryan Farris, things would never work out as planned. But had they listened? Of course not. And as a result, Amy was now dead. He had played a part in that himself, sure... But he'd only been cleaning up their mess, hadn't he? He'd just been following their orders. He could not be blamed for her death. He had loved her. The blame was all on the people on the list.
The list was long, and it grew longer with everyone who got involved in the case, especially those coming to Farris' defense. That's why he had decided that the lawyer had to go too. As did the therapist.
He'd set things in motion tonight, which was another reason he hadn't been able to go to the stadium. He'd been out running errands, as his old man would probably put it. All things considered, it had been a very productive day indeed.
After he'd left the restaurant, he'd been driving around in his truck, aimlessly, until it had occurred to him that he wouldn't have to wait for tomorrow morning to find out where they took Ryan for his therapy sessions. After all, this was Chicago, wasn't it? The city where everything was for sale, even confidential information. Like prison logs that recorded the comings and goings of every prisoner transport imaginable...
Taking a healthy swig from the bottle, he focused on the television again. There was nothing more he could do tonight, so he might as well watch the remainder of the game and go to bed after. No more beers after this one either. Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day at the Lakefront Health Center. He needed a clear head for that.
